fmcgalaxie500:In England and Australia you don't rent a car when you travel you 'Hire' it

This amuses me to no end as an American because of the connotation of the word hire in American English. I can just imagine Mr. Accord going home to his wife, Civic, and his kids, Fit and CRX, showing them the big paycheck he made that day when the nice businessman hired him for the day to take him back and forth between the hotel and the airport.

It didn't take very long for me to translate that a "hire car" is what americans call a "rental". Much the same way that an elevator is a "lift" in England.

Anyway... This actually does seem like a bit of a cause for concern. Not because the training guys were dumb enough to leave one of their props behind (although that was stupid), but the fact that said prop went undiscovered for 2 weeks. You'd think that the agency would have inspected the return much earlier than that!

Seriously, though, why does that one word being different make people want to point and laugh? Is it really so horrible that people in other parts of the world have different idioms? I'm an American, and I understood the headline perfectly without any need of assistance, thank you very much.

Heh, back in the '80s my National Guard unit emplaced a dummy minefield on the slopes of Mount Shasta, with all the documentation necessary for later removal of said minefield. Then we lost the documentation. So in 20 years or so, I expect to read about all the mines found by a logging crew, that creates a great panic and causes many sharted lumberjack flood-pants. I hope I get the greenlight when it hits FARK.

It never ceases to amuse me when my wife talks about someone "hiring a flat" or "hire a car for the weekend"

Well, actually, it has ceased to amuse me, mostly. I dont know why I used that phrase. Im used to it now. Maybe a slight vetigal amusement?

But it USED to amuse me greatly.

But it's just one of those things. In Britishese, "Hire" is used for inanimate objects, unlike in American, where it is mostly reserved for people performing tasks, and "rent" is mostly used for inanimate objects or spaces.

\Also her weird british use of the verb tense "it will be" to actually mean "it is.... right now" as in "Is that the post office? Ah yes, it will be. It has a flag.."

durbnpoisn:Anyway... This actually does seem like a bit of a cause for concern. Not because the training guys were dumb enough to leave one of their props behind (although that was stupid), but the fact that said prop went undiscovered for 2 weeks. You'd think that the agency would have inspected the return much earlier than that!

How many times did they rent that vehicle out to members of the public during the two weeks between when the army guys had it and the "cleaners" at the rental agency actually did any cleaning?

I'm am really hesitant to ask this. In fact I'd say that I'm positively terrified, but I'll accept my chances anyway, so here goes: Does anyone in the world actually speak like this?!?!

I bumped into these like dis if u cry evertimstupid farking stories on a site called lamebook, which is just a funny compilation of retarded shiat on facebook. I honestly have lost sense of if it is satire, or legit. I'm sure it's a strong blend. Poe's law in effect

As an Australian residing in the US, I never realized how stupid it sounds to Americans when I use the word "hire" to refer to things and not people. This thread has been enlightening, so thanks, Yanks.

owlie:As an Australian residing in the US, I never realized how stupid it sounds to Americans when I use the word "hire" to refer to things and not people. This thread has been enlightening, so thanks, Yanks.

Although I see what you did there, we do "hire" cars, but only when someone else is driving it for us.

abhorrent1:Hire car? Do they hire apartments too? Oh sorry, "flats". Do they also hire DVDs

You hire a rental car from a car rental agency if you need a car for a day through to a few weeks. Note that a hire car doesn't allow you to use the "hire car" lanes on freeways - those are for the driver-and-car hires such as executive taxis and the stretch Hummers favoured by bogans for their year 12 formals. You lease a car from a car leasing company if you want it for permanent use. The car rental car companies usually lease the cars that they then rent out for hire.

When you rent a flat, you sign a lease, usually for a 12 month period. But if you lease a commerical property, your lease is likely to be years.

Nobody uses DVDs any more except to scare the drop bears away from the crops.

And what is this English crap about going "to hospital" or "in hospital"? It should always be going "to THE hospital" or "in THE hospital". Same with "on holiday"...geez you think them redcoats could speak good English by nows.

durbnpoisn:It didn't take very long for me to translate that a "hire car" is what americans call a "rental". Much the same way that an elevator is a "lift" in England.

Anyway... This actually does seem like a bit of a cause for concern. Not because the training guys were dumb enough to leave one of their props behind (although that was stupid), but the fact that said prop went undiscovered for 2 weeks. You'd think that the agency would have inspected the return much earlier than that!

swangoatman:And what is this English crap about going "to hospital" or "in hospital"? It should always be going "to THE hospital" or "in THE hospital". Same with "on holiday"...geez you think them redcoats could speak good English by nows.

ISO15693:It never ceases to amuse me when my wife talks about someone "hiring a flat" or "hire a car for the weekend"

Well, actually, it has ceased to amuse me, mostly. I dont know why I used that phrase. Im used to it now. Maybe a slight vetigal amusement?

But it USED to amuse me greatly.

But it's just one of those things. In BritisheseEnglish, "Hire" is used for inanimate objects, unlike in American, where it is mostly reserved for people performing tasks, and "rent" is mostly used for inanimate objects or spaces.

\Also her weird british use of the verb tense "it will be" to actually mean "it is.... right now" as in "Is that the post office? Ah yes, it will be. It has a flag.."

swangoatman:And what is this English crap about going "to hospital" or "in hospital"? It should always be going "to THE hospital" or "in THE hospital". Same with "on holiday"...geez you think them redcoats could speak good English by nows.

Yes, much as we always say, "Yesterday, my Grandma went to the church. Today is Monday, so, I have to go to the school. The first class I will go to is the math."

Holocaust Agnostic:The band is playingThe crowd is dancing.The label is scouting.The crew is planning a new pack for the trucks.The police are at the door.

America, explain.

Explain language? Ha, ha! Pull the other one, then.

But seriously the only pattern I can see in those examples only makes me more confused. In each case the nouns are collectives. The band, crowd, label, crew, and police are all groups of people, rather than individual people. But in the first four cases it is understood that the nouns refers to the entirety of the collective. "The band" means "All of the band members". "The crew" means "all of the crew memebers", etc.

In the last case "The police" refers to only a subset of the the entirety of the police. Is that what makes a difference? I don't know enough about grammar to answer this.

/Jake and Elwood might have been told that the police is at the door, however.